Asia Times
Mar 18, 2010
By Peter J Brown
For the first time in well over a decade, China has limited rising spending on defense to a less than double-digit increase. In early March, Beijing announced that the 2010 defense budget would total approximately 532 billion yuan (US$78 billion), with the 7.5% increase representing half the 14.9% rise approved in 2009.
China is accustomed to being accused of not providing accurate information. Jia Yong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee (CPPCC), recently described these allegations as “groundless”.
Japan has consistently expressed concerns about China’s military spending. In light of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s 2008 promise that China “would not spark an arms race with its neighbors or pose a military threat”, Asia Times Online asked
several experts to assess the impact of the new defense budget on Japan. We put the question to them twice in somewhat different statements.
An immediate response came from Michael Green, Japan Chair and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.
“It is the nature of Chinese deployments and operations rather than the official number that is at issue,” said Green. “But the lower number doesn’t hurt China’s image!” more …
